DIA's outdoor replicas draw attention around Metro Detroit

Catherine Hansen of Warren leans in for a better look at the elaborately framed masterwork. It's a painting by the 18th-century French artist Georges Seurat, mounted on posts at Rivard Plaza on Detroit's RiverWalk.

"Won't it get damaged out here?" Hansen wonders aloud, and gingerly reaches forward to touch "View of Le Crotoy from Upstream," which is part of the Detroit Institute of Arts' permanent collection.

What she's touching, of course, is not the original oil painting, but a life-sized, high-quality vinyl reproduction in a nice wooden frame. It's one of 40 classic paintings that the DIA is hanging over the next week or two on buildings and in parks all across the metropolitan area.

It's part of their Inside/Out ad campaign, which aims to reach beyond the walls of the 125-year-old museum to remind passers-by of the inherent pleasure in bumping into great art, as well as the treasures contained within the DIA's four walls.

A little whimsy went into matching each masterpiece to its public site.

Hanging outside Noir Leather in Royal Oak, for example, is Henry Fuseli's "The Nightmare," in which a monster crouches on the breast of a sleeping woman.

"People notice it," says Kathleen Fegley, who owns the store with her husband, Keith Howarth. "They stop. They look. Somebody's even put it up on Facebook. We've gotten a lot of feedback."

Back on the waterfront, Nahla Shaya of West Bloomfield joins Hansen in taking in the Seurat and connects the dots on why the DIA probably chose this particular work for this site.

"It goes with the river, see?" she says. "Because there's water in the painting."

Hansen, once she's convinced she's looking at a reproduction, not the real thing, says, "There should be more of this stuff around.

"I love the DIA," she says. "And they need more exposure."

The posters will be up through November.